Staff Reporter:
Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Sunday expressed concern over continued ‘plastic pol-lution’ in the country as the use of single-use plastics and laminated plastics are not banned in the “Envi-ronment Protection Act, 1995” despite being the first country in the world to ban polythene shopping bags in 2002.
In a statement issued on the occasion of World Environment Day, the organization urged the authority concerned to immediately amend Section 6(a) of the Environment Protection Act, 1995 to prevent ille-gal production, marketing and use of plastic, impose pollution taxes and ensure effective implementation of environmental laws to hold individuals, organizations and projects involved in plastic pollution ac-countable.
Mentioning that Bangladesh accounts for 2.47 per cent of the global plastic pollution, TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said, “Although a law has been made banning the use of polythene, envi-ronmental pollution from plastic has not only continued but has increased alarmingly due to lack of ef-fective implementation.”
Referring to the environmental performance index (EPI)-2022 which said Bangladesh ranks fourth among the laggard countries in preventing environmental pollution, Dr Iftekharuzzaman said, “The rules related to plastic pollution should be formulated immediately to reduce the production and use of plastic products and to ensure proper management of plastic waste.”
Recently, the government adopted an action plan prepared by the World Bank to combat plastic pollu-tion. TIB urged the concerned to be sincere so that the directive issued to avoid the use of “single-use plastic” in district offices and institutions should not be limited to “paper”.
